Chapter 10
Chapter 10
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: Grassroots Market Economy (2)
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Everyone thinks of Jeju Island's famous female merchant when they hear the name Kim Man-deok.
But the man standing before me is a bearded guy in his forties.
I'm not the type to be disappointed by something like that...
Still, it's a bit awkward hearing a male merchant with that name. The only Kim Man-deok I know is a woman.
"The newly appointed Magistrate is bringing enlightened rule, and even a lowly merchant like me feels the grace of Your Highness reaching down."
"I'm just a fresh Civil Service Exam graduate assigned as County Magistrate. Someone as inexperienced and young as me finds words like that a bit burdensome."
"Not only have you allowed us merchants free trade, but you've even set up a market for the common folk to sell their wares. I never dreamed a Magistrate like you would come to our humble town."
In Joseon, it's always best to start conversations with superiors by buttering them up.
Even the petitions from high ministers and scholars begin that way.
"After two deep bows, I give thanks for Your Highness's benevolence and take up my brush."
Then they go on at length—fabricating praises if needed—about how wonderful the current king is and how much better life has become for the people.
So I can't just dismiss his flattery as mere sycophancy.
It's just the done thing in Joseon.
And what I like about this man is... In Joseon, you always have to bring lavish gifts when asking a yangban for a favor.
Yet instead of offering a gift, he's come purely to make his plea. Anyone else would call it insolent and smash a chamber pot over his head.
In our terms, it's like showing up empty-handed to ask a father-in-law for his daughter's hand—beyond rude.
He must be utterly confident he can persuade me with logic and evidence alone. Or else he's crazy.
"An immature fellow like me has no choice but to work diligently to govern tens of thousands of souls. If that improves their lives, it's solely due to Your Highness's virtue."
In Korea, fans ambush pro gamers with worship out of nowhere. If you spot their photo unexpectedly, you have to fangirl, chanting praises like they're gaming gods.
In Joseon, the king is that figure. Even yangban have to drop whatever they're saying for a sudden king-worship ambush.
Otherwise, you risk being branded a traitor lacking loyalty and patriotism.
That's why he said it.
In truth, easing the burden of Tribute Goods and helping the people was all thanks to my own brilliance.
"I have several lawsuit documents that need my immediate attention. So get to your point."
"Magistrate, you've opened a grand market where not just merchants but commoners can trade freely. And you're charging minimal stall fees. This market you've created will soon draw merchants from Jinhae County and beyond—from Dongnae County and neighboring towns alike."
Right now in Joseon—outside Hanyang—any proper market is illegal. The reason is absurd.
Because of the deranged notion of "mubon eokmal," they've clung for nearly five hundred years to the idea that commoners must stick to farming as their duty, while commerce is a necessary evil to be minimized.
So aside from tiny village markets, anything big enough for the whole town? County office runners swarm in, wreck the place, and pocket the goods as their own.
But a market officially sanctioned by the yamen? Everyone who wants to trade will flock there.
"We are deeply grateful for allowing free trade, Magistrate... but the problem is how many view it unkindly."
Confucian hardliners see merchants as parasites: idlers who sit at stalls, swindling honest, hardworking farmers.
To be precise, merchants of this era have indeed lost all sense of decency...
But even accounting for that, does it make sense to outright ban trade? That's why those temple thugs could run rampant.
The high officials in the capital above me, the rural scholars stuck in backwater towns, and those future Sarim faction types—who missed out on nation-founding and struggle for advancement—all genuinely see commerce as the pastime of lazy gluttons.
Kim Man-deok worries about these folks causing chaos to shut down the market, filing petitions to kill "trade" itself.
"Jinhae hasn't faced famine, but if we show His Highness how people improve their lives selling greens, firewood, straw sandals—however small—he'll gladly permit the market. And if someone petitions that I'm wrong, I'll stake my life before His Highness insisting this benefits the people. What's worse than death anyway?"
They won't execute a top exam scorer turned magistrate for opening a market on his own. At worst, dismissal, then reinstatement in a year or two.
Others would rush back joyfully at the recall...
But I'd make endless excuses and never return to office. If I get fired for helping the people, I've done my duty, right?
Then marry a pretty wife. Use family wealth for concubines too.
Having served as magistrate, I'd live out my days as the town's respected elder. True slow-life healing, no?
Kim Man-deok knelt at my words, then slammed his forehead to the floor out of nowhere.
"As expected, you are a Magistrate of kingly vessel and sage renown."
Before I could humbly deny it, he handed me a neatly folded paper.
"This lists the goods and quantities I'll sell once the market opens. If trading begins, I'll submit a ledger of items offered. And ten percent of sales will go to the yamen as tax."
Kim Man-deok is filthy rich. Not chaebol-level billions, but personal assets in the tens of billions at least.
His trading company's holdings must be massive too. Plenty of goods for the market.
Yet ten percent of sales as tax? A huge boon to county finances.
The question is what angle he's playing...
"What do you want?"
"Isn't it because lowly traders like us are despised and scorned that we offer no benefit to the nation? We pay a pittance in stall fees, but none of our profits go to taxes. We bear no burdens like farmers do—mere vermin."
Before income and sales taxes in the empire-blaming British realm, merchants paid ridiculously low rates relative to earnings.
Simple: fudge the books a bit, slash reported sales.
Even Edo merchants—with larger domestic trade than Western powers—paid peanuts compared to profits.
Daimyo squeezed them with "interest-free, no-repay" loans as de facto taxes.
Joseon's merchant oversight is worse than Edo's, so I hadn't expected honest tax from trade profits.
"If we earn our keep in Joseon but dodge taxes while trading freely, who would view merchants favorably?"
...What is this guy? A loyal subject? With King Sejong on the throne, he could end up like Jang Yeong-sil someday.
Jang hammering away, this fellow tallying on an abacus beside him.
"So to prove merchants can aid the nation through grand trade, we'll pay taxes."
"What made you think that?"
"I came to the county office hoping to pay taxes so future Magistrates wouldn't shut down Jinhae market. But seeing your grand vision, this lowly one wishes to serve it—like Zhuge Liang's faithful steed aiding Emperor Liu."
...My point was, "If this fails, I'll retire. Retirement sounds great." But he's so earnest and upright, he misunderstood...
"My ambitions won't make you richer."
"I'm certain you'll become a pillar of the nation. Then I can rise as a great merchant in your wake, no?"
A capitalist smile spread across Kim Man-deok's face—not outright villainous, but greedy all the same.
"...If you permit it, Magistrate, I'll keep the local merchants in strict check against mischief."
A merchant volunteering taxes and vowing to live honorably?
Of course I trust him. Doubting would be the weird part.
"Very well. Do so."